The PM Revolution Under Our Noses

 

In the near-science of Economics, two predominant free-market theories stand in stark opposition to each other: Keynesianism, named after John Maynard Keynes (1883 – 1946), and Economic Freedom, probably best articulated by Friedrich Von Hayek (1899-1992) and Milton Friedman (1912-2006). Each of these schools of economic thought has their adherents, with probably the most articulate ones today being Paul Krugman and Thomas Sowell, respectively. So, I have to ask: is there a similar theoretical divide within the project management community?

I believe there is, and, from my observations, they fall along two lines of thought: the first group, whom I’ll call Processors, tend to devote time and energy into perfecting the process of project management. They love to identify “best practices,” and encode these into official procedures that the macro organization is then compelled to follow, to the letter. Failure is determined by the frequency and level of infractions against approved procedures, and success is attained when the process is followed perfectly.

The rival camp, whom I’ll call Effectives, are not only reluctant to embrace proceduralized “best practices,” they will often actively oppose them. Instead, they are interested in adapting the tools and techniques that improve their chances of bringing in their projects on-time, on-budget. If, say, the risk managers want to perform an extensive analysis on the cost and schedule risks involved in a large project, with the end-product being something that an Effective won’t (or can’t) use in coming to informed decisions, the Effective will, in all probability, refuse to fund the risk analysis.

Are you wondering which you are? Well, I’ve devised a little multiple-choice test to help determine this.
1.    You have let a $100,000 (USD) contract, and the winning contractor bid $75K in labor costs, $25K in heavy machinery. The project’s complete scope is delivered on-time, but the final costs were $75K in heavy machinery, and $20K in labor. Was this project a success?
a.    Yes, of course.
b.    No, the original estimate was wrong, meaning someone cheated.
c.    What does the rest of the project team think? Are they happy?
d.    No, because the overhead rates are different for labor and machinery.
2.    Your estimator has created a detailed estimate for your project’s cost baseline, and it has been time-phased and integrated into the schedule baseline. What should the estimator do now?
a.    Work on the next project, and leave you alone.
b.    Stay around to continually re-estimate the remaining work, add that on to the cumulative actual costs, thereby generating an Estimate at Completion.
c.    Stay around to do alternative analyses, or other stuff.
d.    Stay around to continually compare the line items in the basis of estimate with their analogous counterparts in the General Ledger as costs come in.
3.    You are a director of your organization’s PMO, and you have a meeting with the newly-assigned manager of a major project. This manager was put in that position because of her advanced technical knowledge, and formal PM techniques are really not her long suit. After introductions, you begin the meeting by saying:
a.    I have some examples of the kinds of cost and schedule performance reports our tools can generate for you. Can you indicate which of these you believe will give you the confidence that you are on top of your project as it pursues its scope?
b.    I have some copies of the procedures this organization has published with respect to how you are to conduct your project management activities. Would you like me to tell you how your project team can attain compliance?
c.    Can you tell me what you want out of your project controls?
d.    Were you aware that the information from the general ledger does a better job than these Earned Value and Critical Path guys?
Scoring: Each “a” is one point, “b”s are two, “c”s are three, and “d”s are four.
Less than 4: You are an Effective, and I’m actually a little surprised you took the time to read this blog.
4 to 6: You are a Processor, and probably view anyone who selected an “a” response to be an undisciplined rube.
7 to 9: You are in the mushy middle, which is perfectly understandable, considering the conflicting assertions in the PM media.
Over 9: Don’t you accountants have your own websites and blogs to read?

My prediction is that innovations in project management will tend to fall along the lines of the tools and techniques that deliver more on-time, on-budget projects (such as Agile/Scrum), or those approaches that represent more formal observance of process – if such things can even be called “innovative.”